These monthly e-Zines are reminders to all of us writers out there. Some tips you can use, some you already know about. Mostly it helps remind us to start writing, keep writing, finish writing and write some more. Here is another reminder about our unfinished "Great American Novels":

There is a boon of growth in my part of town. They call it progress. Streets are dismantled and widened. Trees are felled and flowers and grass are disappearing. I drove past such an area, where just the day before, majestic full trees stood in the grassy median of the thoroughfare. Now there were only the stumps of the grand champions. I am a tree lover and it broke my heart.

Sometime later I passed them again. I noticed the construction still had not started and several of the poor raw stumps had a cluster of new growth growing from their wounds. One in particular was quite bushy! I knew they were doomed but it occurred to me that it is a natural force of nature to not give up, no matter the odds. Are we so removed from the natural rhythm of the universe that we have forgotten that it should be easy for us not to give up?

I meet a lot of writers and people that dream of being a writer. Mostly I meet people like me that have several books in the works. Then there are the diligent few who finish their books and publish them.

Do you have a book you want to write or need to finish? What part of the day are you most creative? Can you take 15 minutes or an hour of that time to write?

I am most creative in the late hours. This week I have made myself stop working on my graphics business late at night, knowing the work can be saved for regular business hours. Each time it’s a struggle because I am in the creative flow and I don’t want to stop. But I think of those trees and refuse to give up anymore. So I transfer that creative flow over to my book and write on!

Best wishes on your works in progress!

      ~ Julie Howell